Providing for the Expansion of Air Services to the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport

January 27, 2006

EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 500

PROVIDING FOR THE EXPANSION OF AIR SERVICES TO THE DIOSDADO MACAPAGAL INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

WHEREAS, Section 2 of Republic Act No. 7277,^* as amended, declared the policy of the Government to accelerate the sound and balanced conversion into alternative productive uses of the Clark and Subic military reservations and their extensions;

WHEREAS, on April 28, 1994, Executive Order No. 174 was issued designating the Clark Special Economic Zone as the site of the future premiere international airport;

WHEREAS, on January 3, 1995, Executive Order No. 219 was issued "establishing the Domestic and International Civil Aviation Liberalization Policy";

WHEREAS, on December 3, 2003, Executive Order No. 253 was issued "providing for the expansion of air services to the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA)";

WHEREAS, On June 30, 2005, the President of the Philippines declared as one of the ten-point legacy agenda of this Administration the development of Clark-Subic into the best international service and logistics center in the region.

WHEREAS, there is a growing demand among low cost passenger airlines to fly to the Philippines via the DMIA;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GLORIA MACAPAGAL-ARROYO, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by law, do hereby order:

SECTION 1. The government shall accelerate the full operationalization of the DMIA; IcaHCS

SECTION 2. Any provision of Executive Order No. 219 (series of 1995), Executive Order No. 32 (Series of 2001) and related issuances to the contrary notwithstanding, the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) shall process within thirty (30) days of receipt all applications for international passenger transportation service subject to the following:

a. International passenger and cargo air access to the DMIA is hereby declared as a development route. This authority shall be granted without prejudice to any right or privilege of the applicant under Philippine law, including any Air Services Agreement (ASA) or similar air services arrangement.

b. The increase in commercial passenger and cargo access to the DMIA shall be regarded as an enhancement of Clark-Subic as an international service and logistics center in the region.

c. The requirement of foreign and domestic travelers and cargo from the Philippines for adequate, efficient and reliable air links at competitive rates and the increase in passenger and cargo traffic to the Philippines shall be considered as a vital component of the national interest in the grant of authority to operate passenger and cargo air services to and from the DMIA.

d. Foreign air carriers designated by states with an ASA with the Philippines that already grants such carriers the right to operate passenger and cargo services to and from the DMIA may apply for a waiver of any restriction or limitation on capacity, type of aircraft of non-sabotage traffic rights imposed by the relevant ASA on their right to operate such air services. Such waiver shall be granted provided its scope does not extent beyond the commercial and technical requirements for the operation of air services to and from the DMIA.

SECTION 3. The Clark Development Corporation is hereby included as a member of the Philippine Air Negotiating Panel.

SECTION 4. The Philippine Air Negotiating Panel is directed to call for Air Talks with Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and the Republic of Korea within one (1) year from the effectivity of this Executive Order to formalize the Special Charter Permits granted by the CAB into permanent air entitlements to ensure the flights and development of Clark-Subic as an international service and logistics center.

SECTION 5. The Air Transportation Office, the Bureau of Immigration, the Bureau of Customs, the Bureau of Quarantine and other government agencies including local government units shall provide the necessary support and facilities for the expansion of passenger and cargo air services to the DMIA.

SECTION 6. All orders, circulars, memoranda, rules, regulations and other issuances or parts thereof inconsistent herewith are hereby suspended or amended accordingly.

SECTION 7. This Executive Order shall take effect immediately following its publication in a newspaper of general circulation.

DONE in the City of Manila, this 27th day of January, in the year of Our Lord, Two Thousand and Six.